April 18, 2012

Job Opportunity
The Joint Learning Program wants to advise you that a job notice for a Regional Field Coordinator (Employer) position for the Ontario and Eastern Arctic Region has been posted. Interested parties must apply through Publiservice. The competition closes on April 25, 2012.

Upcoming Activities for the Joint Learning Program
The Joint Learning Program (JLP) will be active in the coming months before the summer. Beside the 68 workshops already scheduled in the calendar, the JLP will attend or organize the following events:

Orientation Session in Ottawa April 16 to 20
Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinic Regina April 25 and 26
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) National Convention in Ottawa April 29 to May 4
National Managers’ Community Forum in Winnipeg May 7 to 10
PSAC Atlantic School in Antigonish, May 23 and 24
Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada Symposium in Ottawa May 29 and 30

Please stay tuned to see photos and to read about these activities.

Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinics in Prairies and Northwest Territories Region
The Prairies and Northwest Territories Region is hosting three Duty to Accommodate (DTA) Workshop Clinic. The first two clinics were delivered on March 28 and 29 in Winnipeg, and on April 11 and 12 in Edmonton. The third one will be held in Regina on April 25 and 26.

Naomi Ashton, Nancy Grant, Jane Kimak, Alex Kosubal, Josette Labossière-Di Nella, Darcey Ladan, Yolande Le Quéré, David Mills, Corrinne Mitchell, La Vona Parker, Kelly Pendulak and Michelle Phaneuf were the participants to the clinic in Winnipeg. In Edmonton, the participants were Jenna Adams, Sharon Bath, Bhupinder Dhaliwal-Johal, Sandra Dowling, Alec Goertzen, Amanda Herman, Leanne Key, Barry Lamoureux, Jaclyn Lee, Ben Lemon, Veronica Mok, Michelle Nouch, Karen Sokol and Vicary Worrell.

The Participants in Winnipeg.

The Participants in Edmonton.

The first DTA workshop in the Prairies Region will be held on April 26 in Lacombe, Alberta. The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Agriculture Union will host this workshop.

Public Service Alliance of Canada Ontario Health and Safety Conference
The Joint Learning Program Ontario and Eastern Arctic Region had a kiosk at the Public Service Alliance of Canada Ontario Health and Safety Conference which was held in Toronto on April 14 and 15.

The theme was Mental Health in the Workplace. Karen Alexander and Romeo Jackson, Regional Field Coordinators, were on location and took the opportunity two promote the new Duty to Accommodate workshop to the attendees.

Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinic in the Quebec Region
The clinic on the Duty to Accommodate (DTA) workshop in the Quebec Region was delivered in Montreal to 15 facilitators on March 28 and 29. The two-day session enabled participants to facilitate core learning activities and experience the benefits of this kit. Facilitators in the region had the opportunities to analyze the kit and to network with colleagues, to share ideas about learning activities as well as tips and tools for facilitation.

The participants were Denis Langevin, Colyn Tucker-Steele, Yolande Dostie, Edmond Maltais, Jenny Pelletier, Stéphane Lemieux, Éric St-Laurent, Benjamin Joseph, Audrey Concilio, Isabelle Paradis, Danielle Dubuc, Anouchka Chagnon, Toufic El-Daher, Lise Roy and Danielle Hétu.

The Participants in the Quebec clinic.

The session was facilitated by Marcia Vergara, Employer (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) and Lynda Fortier, Union (Service Canada).

Carolle Lajoie, Regional Field Coordinator (Employer), on the right,
was on site to open the clinic and to celebrate Lynda Fortier’s (center) retirement.
Marcia Vergara also appears in the picture.

The first Duty to Accommodate workshop delivered in the Atlantic Region
The Atlantic Region had the honour of hosting the first-ever Joint Learning Program Duty to Accommodate (DTA) workshop in the country. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police J Division was the host of this workshop in Fredericton on March 27 and 28.

Participant feedback with respect to the DTA workshop included:

provided awareness on duty to accommodate
case law and discussions around scenarios were most useful
benefits to the workplace include tools to proceed with better understanding of process of duty to accommodate
gained a better understanding of roles for employer (manager & Human Resources), employee, and union
facilitators were well-prepared and dynamic

The co-organizers were Joel Kerstens and Greg Lawlor and Mike Hamper andLorraine Voisine were the facilitators.

From left to right, Greg Lawlor, Mike Hamper,
Lorraine Voisine and Joel Kerstens

Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinic in the National Capital Region
The Joint Learning Program’s National Capital Region recently held its Duty to Accommodate workshop clinic on March 19 and 22 in Gatineau. The clinic was bilingual with simultaneous translation. The formula allowed facilitators to work together. A total of 17 facilitators from the region participated in the clinic. They were: Ronald Thériault, Alexandre-David Brisebois, Anne-Marie Boutin, Louise Blouin, Roowdy Duré, Jean-Pierre de Beaumont, Marie-Josée Caron, Ghyslaine Hamel, Nancy Martineau, Tom Fitzpatrick, Jo-Anne McCullough, Bruce Roy, Carisa Hector, St. Clair Currie, Lina Boucher, Fred Martin and Zarina Khan.

The facilitators were Linda Iezzi and Alex Roussakis, Regional Field Coordinators.

The first workshop will be held in Cornwall, on May 3 and 4. The host will be Service Canada.

Joint Learning Program Atlantic Participates in Diversity and Mental Health Fair
The Human Resource and Diversity Committees of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federal Council invited Joint Learning Program (JLP) to participate in their Diversity and Mental Health Fair held in St. John's, Newfoundland, on March 12, 2012. Opening remarks from the Chair of the Diversity Committee highlighted the committees recent participation in the two-day JLP Respecting Differences/Anti-Discrimination workshop.

Employee and employer representatives from over twenty-one federal government departments and agencies participated in this interactive fair and marketplace. The JLP kiosk had many visitors inquiring about the Program and the newest workshop topic offered - Duty to Accommodate.

Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinic in Ontario and Eastern Arctic Region
The Duty to Accommodate (DTA) Workshop Clinic in Ontario and Eastern Arctic Region was held in Mississauga on March 7 and 8. There were 16 participants from seven government departments. The clinic was facilitated by Karen Alexander and Romeo Jackson, Regional Field Coordinators.

The clinic Participants.

An Orientation Session in Rigaud
A national orientation session under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Customs Immigration Union and the Joint Learning Program (JLP) was held in Rigaud, Quebec, from March 5 to 8. By the end of the week, the 16 participants were provided with a strong foundation of facilitation skills and an overview of the JLP program and learning materials. Thus,Salvatore Barbieri, Allison Rodrigues, Annette Mastracci, An Nguyen, René Laquerre, Nicole Piche, Lucy Bettencourt, Robert Waddell, Robert Burke, Lisa Desramaux, Betty Shoemaker, David Moore, Jessica Kerek, Dennis Klein andChristine Haggar will have the opportunity to join the CBSA-JLP pool of facilitators.Marg McPhedran-Axford, Marg Gaylor and Tamara Lopez, all from CBSA, were the facilitators.

This MOU includes the delivery of a one-day workshop on Creating a Harassment-Free Workplace to all CBSA employees and training of the facilitators required for the initiative.

Duty to Accommodate Workshop Clinic in Atlantic Region
The Duty to Accommodate (DTA) Workshop Clinic in Atlantic Region was held in Moncton, New Brunswick on February 29 and March 1. There were 18 participants:Isaac Armstrong, Philippe Blanchette, Steve Braun, Stéphane Breau, Louise Brenna, Debi Buell, François Cyr, Myra Dunning, Nicole Falardeau, Susan Kavanagh, Lisa Metallic, Anne Pelletier, Sonja Power, Patti Rhodenizer, Pam Rushton, Wendy Shea, Monique Thériault, and Lorraine Voisine.

During the two-day clinic, the objectives that were met included: familiarization with the content of the workshop and opportunities to prepare and facilitate both core and optional learning activities, building a facilitation plan (one-day and 1.5-day agendas) to meet the needs of departments/agencies, networking with Joint Learning Program facilitators from all four Atlantic provinces, and overall preparedness to deliver DTA workshops in the Atlantic region.

The Atlantic clinic participants.